That is according to prefabAUS executive chair Damien Crough, who spoke at Offsite25, From Factory to Future, on the Gold Coast last year.

But the turnaround was not accidental. At the 2024 meeting, prefabAUS leadership acknowledged they were “frankly downbeat” about progress — Modern Methods of Construction remained absent from major national programs despite offering clear solutions to Australia’s housing crisis. But the organisation declared it “a fight we simply must win” and launched a systematic campaign to elevate Smart Building to national priority status.

It worked.

Federal commitments now include $54 million specifically for MMC development, $49.3 million to support state and territory prefab and modular programs, and $4.7 million for a voluntary national certification process. Those allocations follow the November $900 million National Productivity Fund and an additional $120 million in targeted competition payments to accelerate prefabrication adoption.

Industry Development Specialist Lance Worrall said the formal recognition marks a decisive break from the past: “Smart Building is now explicitly recognised within the National Housing Accord, and in the Future Made in Australia industry programs,” he said, adding that the 2025 election outcome had allowed governments to act with greater urgency on housing and manufacturing.

Regulatory changes are now underway.

The Australian Building Codes Board has introduced new national standards for offsite construction — covering design, approvals, production and performance — alongside a manufacturer certification framework. Industry analysis estimates the framework could deliver between $2.9 billion and $5.7 billion in economic benefits.

Meanwhile, the state governments have followed with hard targets.

Queensland has set a 50 per cent MMC target for government projects, with a dedicated MMC sub-group now embedded within its Building Ministerial Advisory Council ahead of the 2032 Olympics. New South Wales launched a $10 million modular housing pilot with pattern-book fast approvals. Victoria committed $50 million to a Future of Housing Centre of Excellence. Western Australia allocated $50 million to its Housing Innovation Program. South Australia and Tasmania each established dedicated MMC social housing initiatives.

And financial investment is shifting, too. Commonwealth Bank now offers prefab-specific lending products enabling access to up to 80 per cent of the contract price before home installation — directly addressing cash flow and procurement barriers for manufacturers and developers. A Federal Treasury working group is separately reviewing the remaining financing obstacles to scaling factory-based production.

PrefabAUS says the momentum reflects a deliberate ten-year campaign. Crough pointed to the organisation’s “Building the Future We Want” roadmap — federal recognition enabling state programs that create demand for innovation hubs, which in turn grow manufacturing capacity and workforce skills. It comes as Wood Central reported on THE PRECINCT, a new model using Australian timber to make prefab viable at scale.

The contest, industry leaders say, is no longer whether MMC will reshape Australian housing. It is whether the sector can scale fast enough to keep production onshore. “The future for Australian Smart Building is a future built here, manufactured here,” Worrall said. “We will not have a Smart Building future unless it is A Future Built in Australia.”

Slated to open later this year, the $1.45 billion, 39-storey ‘plyscraper’ will eventually contain more than 30,000 cubic metres of timber — shipped by European giants Stora Enso and Wiehag — across 21 storeys of the tower, with seven four-storey’ timber habitats’ sandwiched between steel-and-concrete mega floor plates above a seven-storey concrete podium.

And the glass panels going up are anything but conventional.

Spanish BIPV manufacturer Onyx Solar — working through Australian building products supplier Metz — is installing 1,794 crystalline silicon solar louvres across the tower’s active facade as part of a bespoke 247 kWp system. Speaking to PV Magazine Australia earlier this month, Onyx Solar revealed that each unit carries 28 mono-crystalline cells in a 4+4 mm glass configuration and produces 138 Wp at peak output. “The louvres also form a self-shading system that cuts direct solar heat gain internally,” Onya Solar said, turning the tower’s skin into a “vertical power source.”

Designed by BVN and New York-based SHoP, each ‘habitat’ comprises four floors of timbered space stacked inside a steel exoskeleton, eliminating the need for internal columns. “The timber floors are connected to the concrete floors via drag straps,” said Tim Allen, timber structural lead for TTW, who spoke at Timber Construct — Australia’s only timber construction conference — in late 2024. “Why build a 39-storey building partly out of timber?” Allen said. “Because it comes down to using the right timber for the right application.”

Whilst in October last year, Peter Morley, the Dexus project director overseeing the build, said the team had “broken the back on the most technical, structural phase of the project,” with the hybrid timber approach allowing the developers “to bring the building up quicker and get the façade on quicker than a more traditional build.”

“That’s because we’re jumping up five levels every time, and while we’re going up, we’re coming back and infilling with the timber within each of those five-storey zones,” Morley said. Atlassian Central is co-owned by Dexus and Atlassian, with Built and Japanese construction giant Obayashi appointed as builders, confirming the building remains “on schedule” for a 2026 opening, with the tech giant expected to take over five of the seven habitats in late 2028 following a full fit-out.

At street level, crews are also well advanced on a new pedestrian connection from Railway Colonnade Drive to the Devonshire Street Tunnel entrance — the heritage passage running beneath Central Station between Lee Street and Devonshire Street — which will, for the first time, allow pedestrians to access the tunnel directly from the colonnade as part of Central’s broader Third Square redevelopment.

“Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do apart from deal with asbestos when you find it to ensure that you’re providing a safe workplace and a safe building going forward,” according to Victorian Treasurer Jaclyn Symes, who spoke to ABC Melbourne Radio, who confirmed that the bill sits with the government and not the Australian Grand Prix Corporation under its contract with F1 rights holder Liberty Media.

Last month, Wood Central reported that the new building will include a striking timber waffle roof design — joining a growing roster of F1 facilities swapping steel and concrete for hybrid cross-laminated timber systems. Renders produced by Woods Bagot show a massive roof that will eventually shelter 14 F1 team garages.

“What excites us most about this design is how it elevates both elite motorsport and grassroots community sport under one roof,” said Woods Bagot Director Bruno Mendes, the project’s design lead. “We’ve engineered a facility that doesn’t just host one of the world’s premier racing events — it actively gives back to the local sporting community every day of the year.”

Inside the canopy, race control suites, media workrooms and administration offices sit alongside the garages, with expansive hospitality terraces framed by CLT beams and full-height glazing offering circuit and lake views for 5,000 Paddock Club guests. When Grand Prix teams pack up each year, the complex converts into a community sporting hub with seven indoor courts and clubrooms for local football, netball and basketball clubs.

Delivered by a consortium of AECOM, Icon and Woods Bagot, the redevelopment draws on the same team behind the award-winning T3 Collingwood — Melbourne’s tallest hybrid timber office building, also built by Icon.

Drawing record attendance, the Treasurer was happy to spruik the benefits of hosting the race: “I can point to the fact that the Grand Prix is a major economic contributor to the state and I know that many people are going to get along to that race this weekend,” she said. “It fills beds in hotels and people going out for dinner, and it keeps everyone busy, and it supports thousands of jobs.”

As for the existing building, constructed in 1995, Wood Central understands that full demolition is slated to begin days after Sunday’s race, with the new facility scheduled for completion ahead of the 2028 Grand Prix.

• To learn more about Melbourne’s Formula 1 Pit Lane building, one of Australia’s largest timber projects in development, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from last month.

That is according to the latest ABARES Agricultural Commodities Report, published yesterday, which revealed that the gross value of forestry (GVP) production is expected to reach $2.23 billion in 2026-27 — a 3 per cent nominal increase or a 1 per cent real increase. And over the medium term, the GVP is projected to drop back $2.1 billion, with no material growth expected until at least 2030-31.

By the numbers, total gross value production in forests has dropped by 36 per cent over the past eight years — from about $3.4 billion in 2017-18 — with softwood relatively steady at about $1.5 billion, hardwood plantations flatlining at $0.5 billion and native forest continuing what is now a 20-year decline.

According to Diana Hallam, CEO of the Australian Forest Products Association, whilst the topline figures point to the vital role of sustainable forestry in producing essential products, the report also identified serious challenges and headwinds for the sector.

“Some of these challenges and risks include high manufacturing and energy costs, greater use of structural steel in residential and mid-rise construction, as well as a growing amount of imported timber products of varying quality flooding the Australian marketplace, including from China,” she said.

Hallam said the new estimates also reaffirmed the importance of aligning the government’s policy with Australia’s Timber Fibre Strategy, which outlines opportunities for the industry to make a greater contribution to national goals in carbon, innovation, and housing construction.

Softwood up, hardwood down, native at historic lows

The value of softwood plantation production is forecast to increase slightly in 2026-27, driven by short-term movements in detached housing demand. But ABARES warns that a gradual shift toward higher-density dwellings is expected to temper timber demand over the medium term, whilst projected increases in softwood log availability will ease unit prices.

Hardwood plantation production, however, is heading the other way.

And that’s because ongoing shifts in global paper markets are placing downward pressure on woodchip demand, whilst Vietnam’s growing share of global trade — combined with projected exchange rate changes — is continuing to erode Australia’s competitiveness overseas. ABARES expects Australian hardwood woodchip exports to settle at similar volumes but lower unit prices, with Australia holding a smaller, more specialised role in the market.

And then there is native forestry, where production has now fallen to historically low levels following 20 years of contraction driven by the transfer of multiple-use public native forests to nature conservation reserves and increased harvest restrictions.

A $570 million downward revision

ABARES has slashed its forestry forecast by more than $570 million — a 21 per cent revision from its December report — with exports the major driver of the writedown, down more than $619 million amid weaker production and prices.

It comes days after this masthead reported on a new white paper from the Rozetta Institute arguing that Australia needs a national roadmap to boost forest productivity and encourage new capital into the market.

On Friday, Wood Central spoke to the white paper’s lead author, Steve Walker, Principal of Terrafolia Advisory, and co-author Dr Lyndall Bull, who revealed that Australian plantations produce just 15 to 18 cubic metres per hectare per year against international benchmarks of 30 to 50.

And on Monday, Walker went further, telling Wood Central the sector’s decades-long focus on cost discipline had come at the expense of genuine value creation. “Lifting productivity on the land already planted is the fastest and most scalable opportunity,” Walker said. “International benchmarks in Brazil, India, Vietnam and China demonstrate that 30 to 50 cubic metres per hectare per year is achievable using proven technologies already available.”

“If we can do this, we can ultimately strengthen our capacity to produce more competitive engineered wood products like LVL and other EWPs,” he said, adding that the downstream benefits could add tens of millions of dollars to regional communities.

• For more information, including the ABARES full March 2026 Agricultural Commodities Report, visit the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

Now, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) — the country’s largest hardwood processor — says a $600,000 AFWI-funded research project is helping the industry find its way forward, with new species, new engineered products and new performance data that could change how timber windows are specified in Australia.

Daniel Wright, ASH’s National Business Development Manager, told Wood Central that window manufacturers are a big part of the company’s supply chain — from commodity and painted windows through to high-end architectural manufacturers — mostly across south-eastern states, but with a growing presence in northern New South Wales.

And Wright said the fallout from the decision to cease harvesting in Victorian forests has been immediate. “The window manufacturers of south-east Australia have been forced into a lot of change with the cessation of native timber in Victoria — just like we have,” he said. “But they also have upcoming changes to the NCC, which will structurally change how many of them operate.”

“Of course, what impacts our supply chain also impacts us.”

That disruption created confusion. “We’ve recently seen imported plantation timbers in the window market that don’t meet the specs they are intended for,” Wright said. “This was a direct result of Victoria’s hardwood being suddenly ceased. The window makers were trying to do the right thing, but were forced to make quick decisions.”

As one of the major stakeholders in the AFWI–AGWA Modernising Timber Windows project, led jointly by the Timber Development Association and the Australian Glass and Window Association, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods is providing timber species for testing their performance in modern systems.

“When we were asked to be involved, we saw this project as an opportunity to work together and help the window makers collectively find pathways forward that not only suit their specific needs, but also comply with upcoming changes to the NCC,” Wright said.

The project is also a chance for ASH to advance one of its newer species — Plantation Oak — as the company rebuilds markets lost when Victorian ash was taken away. Made from Shining Gum logs grown in a plantation for pulp, Plantation Oak is upgraded by ASH into higher-end, longer-term applications. Wright said a small part of every log can be used for architectural applications, but the majority needs to be engineered to get the best out of it.

“We’ve had success with Plantation Oak in MASSLAM, but in order to use this fibre in other market segments, we need to help build the standards and examples that everyone can follow with confidence,” he said. ASH is one of 10 timber suppliers involved in the project, alongside the Pentarch Group and others.

Now, the testing programme is about to shift up a gear.

Speaking to Wood Central today, Kylan Low — the Structural Engineer at the Timber Development Association leading the project — said next week’s round will put four configurations through their paces: a double-hung window, an awning and casement window, an awning and double casement window, and a centre bifold door. Low said the configurations are designed to capture various hardware setups used across the industry and will be tested under combined air and water pressure for durations representing storm periods.

In January, Low told Wood Central that the industry had been craving this kind of data for a very long time: “Window data hasn’t kept up with changes in codes, glazing, and timber supply.”

The project has also given a platform to the next generation. Jesse Ross — a Graduate Engineer at AGWA who has been working alongside Low since the project’s inception — recently shared his reflections on what has become his first major engineering project. Ross said that, unlike uPVC and aluminium systems, there was no prime operator in the timber window sector, meaning the entire system had to be built from the ground up.

Early testing revealed that some Australian hardwoods, such as Spotted Gum and Blackbutt, could outperform European staples. But given the project’s focus on species substitution, the team chose to work with the lowest passing species it could find. Designs have settled on 55/58 mm sash profiles with 24 mm glazing pockets, accommodating modern insulated glass units and manufacturable by small-scale workshops.

Ross said the industry engagement phase — travelling to state forums, meeting joiners, hardware suppliers and timber providers — was one of the most eye-opening parts of the experience. He found some joineries still working with outdated designs that didn’t fully comply with AS 2047 or accommodate drained insulated glass units.

“I learned that innovation is not just about creating new ideas,” Ross wrote, “but also about making them accessible to your audience.” The documentation phase — technical manuals, substitution procedures, shop drawings — is now underway, aiming to give any Australian joinery everything it needs to start building with confidence.”

The Modernising Timber Windows project is one of 30 research initiatives funded through AFWI — a $200-million-plus institute backed by $100 million in Commonwealth funding. It is generating new structural and performance data across a range of solid and engineered wood products, testing how timbers perform under AS 2047, Australia’s mandatory standard for windows and external glazed doors.

• To learn more about the Australian Forest and Wood Innovations programme, visit AFWI’s dedicated website.

That is, according to new ABS data analysed by IndustryEdge, which revealed that Australia’s imports of prefabricated and modular buildings have lifted to a record $326.4 million for the year to November 2025, a staggering 51.1% uptake on the last 12 months with modular steel ($75.8 million, up 246.8%) and prefabricated steel and other non-wood products ($227.3 million, up 28.9%) making up more than 92% of imports.

The data comes amid growing public and political interest in prefabricated and modular construction as a potential lever for addressing Australia’s housing supply shortfall. Yesterday, Wood Central reported that a major Australian developer is now partnering with a major Chinese construction firm to bring prefab expertise to address Sydney’s housing crisis, whilst the AustChina Institute is looking to establish a trade corridor for prefab to help close the gap.

But how much of these building materials are going into housing?

The ABS data paints a more nuanced picture of what is actually arriving at ports. The figures do not distinguish between industrial and commercial buildings and dwellings, making it difficult to determine how much of the record growth is being driven by residential demand. The formal product descriptors are published on the Border Force website under the 9406 Prefabricated Buildings classifications, with longer versions contained in the monthly ABS data series.

A closer look at the largest import category — 9406.90.00.04, covering steel and other non-wood prefabricated buildings — tells the story.

At $227.3 million, it accounts for nearly 70% of the total, and it is made up almost entirely of commercial and industrial products. The category contains no information on the value of dwelling imports. What it does list is cold rooms, spray booths, operating theatres, carports, greenhouses, interpreter booths, pod offices, observatory domes, vaults, laundries, showers, kitchens, bathrooms, and workshops — a long way from the housing conversation that has dominated the prefab narrative in recent months.

Wooden prefab buildings make up just 7.1% of all imports by value

Inevitably, most interest in the timber sector will centre on imports of prefabricated wooden buildings. The value here lifted $5.5 million, or 31.0%, to $23.3 million (FOB) over the year to November 2025. It’s a strong growth rate off a modest base — wooden prefab buildings still account for just 7.1% of total prefabricated building imports by value. Imports are spread across the states, reasonably consistent with population size.

On the supply side, mainland China accounted for 66.1% of total prefabricated building imports, or $215.9 million (FOB), for the year to November 2025. The picture shifts when specifically isolating the wooden prefab. China supplied 43.0% of imported wooden prefabricated buildings by value, with Estonia contributing 20.7% and Latvia 9.5% — a reflection of the Baltic states’ established expertise in timber construction and their growing footprint in the Australian market.

That Baltic connection is also worth watching. European timber producers have been actively diversifying their export markets since EU sanctions on Russian and Belarusian timber disrupted established supply chains from 2022. As Wood Central has reported, the reshaping of global timber trade flows has opened new corridors — and Australia’s wooden prefab import profile increasingly appears to reflect that shift.

There is no question that political and commercial interest in prefab housing is growing. But the import data suggests the reality has not yet caught up with the ambition. The bulk of Australia’s record $326.4 million in prefab imports is going into commercial and industrial applications, and for the timber sector, wooden prefab remains a small but growing corner of the market at $23.3 million a year.

The gap between where the conversation is and where the numbers are remains significant.

That is according to Metsä Wood, which confirmed its Kerto LVL was used for the entire load-bearing structure of the Xylino complex in Almere — named after the Greek word for wood — a project developed by housing corporation De Alliantie and constructor Koopmans Bouwgroep, with all modules manufactured off-site by geWOONhout.

The building delivers a mix of mid-market rental units, social housing apartments and ground-level residences, supported by a semi-underground parking structure and a shared car-free courtyard. It comes as the EU pours money into industrialised timber construction to tackle chronic housing shortages across the continent.

Wood Central understands each module arrived on site with plumbing, electrical and ventilation already installed, and that the structural system — four corner columns with integrated floor and roof elements — locks together without the need for a concrete core, a significant departure from conventional multi-storey residential construction.

And whilst CLT is the more common choice in mass timber construction, geWOONhout went with Kerto LVL — a product manufactured from 3-millimetre-thick veneers glued together, either uniformly or with 20 per cent laid crosswise depending on application — which Metsä Wood says is up to 50 per cent more resource-efficient than comparable mass timber products whilst delivering equivalent structural performance.

Sprint construction: four apartments a day

Installation followed what Metsä Wood called a sprint-based approach — ditching the traditional linear schedule in favour of rapid, concentrated bursts of activity — with teams placing eight to twelve modules per day and assembling three to four apartments simultaneously.

“This system is ready to be repeated,” according to Bas Broeke, Project Manager at Koopmans Bouwgroep. “The way it works here means we can apply it in many more places.”

CNC machining held tolerances to within 0.5 millimetres across all components, and every part in the system has a digital twin accessible via a QR code — containing dimensions, specifications, and end-of-life instructions that support both manufacturing consistency today and disassembly in the future.

The project also achieves R120 fire classification, providing 120 minutes of structural resistance as required for Dutch buildings exceeding 13 metres in height, whilst acoustic performance is delivered through olivine aggregate added to the floors — a mineral that also captures CO₂ — combined with acoustic decouplers between modules to prevent sound transmission.

And the environmental credentials extend far beyond the structure, with lighter foundations reducing transport emissions, PEFC-certified wood sourced throughout demonstrating responsible sourcing, and all site operations powered by solar. The completed buildings even feature solar panels, high-performance insulation and rainwater harvesting, whilst modules are designed from the outset for disassembly and material recovery. Low-carbon concrete was deployed only for the semi-underground parking facility.

Speaking about the project, Aafke Van der Werf, Director of geWOONhout — which manufactured all 436 modules — said the result speaks for itself. “The best thing about Xylino is that you can’t tell from the outside that it was built using industrialised methods,” she said. “To me, that proves that architectural freedom and modular construction can go hand in hand.”

The review, announced by the International Trade Administration as part of a broader initiation notice covering multiple trade orders, names Hunchun Xingjia Wooden Flooring Inc. and Zhejiang Longsen Lumbering Co., Ltd. as companies subject to examination.

Under the agency’s process, respondent selection may be limited to a subset of firms, determined either from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) import data or from quantity‑and‑value questionnaires issued to exporters. The CBP data or questionnaire responses will be placed on the record within 5 days of the notice’s publication, and the Commerce Department aims to select respondents within 35 days. Interested parties will have seven days to comment once the data are posted, followed by a five‑day window for rebuttal submissions.

The Department also noted that reviews may be rescinded where there are no suspended entries for a company or where entries were not made under the firm’s specific case number. Producers or exporters listed in the initiation notice may notify Commerce within 30 days if they had no exports, sales, or entries during the period of review. In addition, parties that requested a review may withdraw their request within 90 days of publication.

And whilst the core of the terminal opened to passengers in 2024, the past 18 months have been dedicated to demolishing and rebuilding the north and south nodes — a task carried out while the airport remained fully operational. And Wood Central understands that the final configuration now links ticketing, security and circulation spaces into a single, seismically isolated volume, eliminating the bottlenecks that characterised the interim construction period.

“The last 30% of Portland Airport’s main terminal project, on both the north and south of wing of the terminal, will wrap up by June, adding new restaurants, shops, bathrooms, art, and improved passenger flow,” according to Alamy McCarty, a reporter for KGW8 news who toured the new section. “As we open up the last 30% of the project, you’ll see the continuation of a walk in the forest.”  

Behind the Douglas fir interior lies one of the most advanced seismic designs for any airport anywhere in the world, with the structure engineered to remain fully operational both during and after a magnitude‑9.0 Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, whilst high‑tech base isolation bearings are installed beneath the columns to allow the roof and floor plates to move independently from the ground. And for crews, this meant threading new structural systems through an active terminal — a challenge far removed from a greenfield build.

And the logistical demands are immense. Crews had to demolish the old ticket lobbies and baggage claim areas just metres from live passenger operations, while simultaneously erecting the steel that “stitched” the Phase 1 roof to the new Phase 2 sections. The distinctive Y‑columns now run uninterrupted from end to end, supporting the undulating mass timber diaphragm that has become the project’s signature.

Attention is now shifted to interior fit‑out. Electricians are completing the LED lighting integration within the timber coffers, while finish trades install terrazzo flooring designed to mimic the dappled light of a forest floor. The final retail nodes are also taking shape, with the Port of Portland prioritising local operators over generic airport franchises.

The supply chain behind the project remains one of its defining achievements. More than 2.5 million board feet of glulam beams and lattice were sourced from within a 300‑mile radius, including tribal lands and small family‑owned forests. Timberlab and Zip‑O‑Laminators led the mass timber fabrication, while W&W | AFCO Steel delivered the structural steel package.

• To learn more about the airport, click here for Wood Central’s exclusive interview with Jared Revy, the Director of Manufacturing for Timberlab, one of North America’s largest mass timber manufacturers and fabricators of the massive build.

Previously covered by Wood Central, the new glulam—developed by WTIBeam in partnership with Australian Bluegum Plantations and OneFortyOne—marks a major shift in how plantation hardwoods are used. Instead of being chipped or pulped, blue gum can now be turned into high‑value structural products capable of replacing native hardwoods restricted under forest‑harvesting bans.

“It’s really pleasing to see our research deliver a real‑world application, proving that plantation‑grown blue gum can deliver high‑performance structural products at scale,” according to Tony Wright, CEO of the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub, who added that GL24 could help Australian plantations displace imported timbers and supplement steel and concrete.

According to Edwina Vulcz, owner of WTIBeam, the glulam product signals a new way of valuing blue gum. “We’re excited to see our new product come to life in the home of plantation forestry in Mt Gambier. “Blue gum makes incredible glulam when manufactured the right way, and the high‑strength grades like GL24 can support builders to achieve longer spans, reducing material use and construction costs.”

Forestry centre opens to fanfare

Opened late last week, the $16.5 million centre is a partnership between the Peter Malinauskas‑led state government, the University of Adelaide—which has committed $6.55 million over 10 years—and the forest industry. The building brings together the National Centre for Forestry Innovation, led by Professor Jeff Morrell, the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub and Tree Breeding Australia.

“This centre is about backing one of our state’s great regional success stories with world‑class research, innovation and skills, ensuring the forestry sector remains strong, sustainable and competitive well into the future,” Minister for Forest Industries Clare Scriven said.

“Our plantation forest region is one of the powerhouses of the Australian forest sector, and this centre will help drive economic growth, attract investment and support local jobs. By bringing together government, researchers, educators and industry in one location, we are creating the right conditions for collaboration, innovation and long‑term prosperity for the region.”

According to Professor Nicola Phillips, Vice‑Chancellor for the University of Adelaide, the new centre demonstrates how research can deliver direct benefits to regional communities and industry. “By co‑locating world‑class researchers with industry partners in the heart of the Green Triangle, ideas will be translated more efficiently from the lab to the plantation and processing floor,” she said. “The centre will also strengthen pathways between research, education and industry, ensuring that students and early career researchers gain hands‑on experience in the sector.”

Whilst Professor Morrell said the centre’s mission is to deliver practical, industry‑led research. “The centre works closely with growers, processors and product manufacturers to address real challenges such as productivity, sustainability, climate resilience and the development of high‑value timber products,” he said. “By translating science into solutions, the centre will ensure the industry continues to innovate, adapt, provide secure jobs and remain globally competitive in a rapidly changing market.”

And with the state election only weeks away, South Australian Forest Products Association CEO Nathan Paine said the opening sends a clear signal about the sector’s future. “It sends a strong message well beyond Mount Gambier, the centre reinforces South Australia’s commitment to future‑focused industries built on sustainability, innovation and community,” he told the SA Voice yesterday.

“Too often, we see good ideas announced but never delivered. Today shows what’s possible when government listens, commits and follows through,” he said. “As the birthplace of Australia’s commercial plantation forestry sector, the centre recognises the 150‑year legacy of regional workers, businesses and researchers, and it will strengthen the global competitiveness of forest industries research while creating lasting economic and employment opportunities across the Limestone Coast and throughout the state.”

• To learn more about how researchers are using plantation fibre to build frames, panels and modules in factories, click here for Wood Central’s special feature on The Precinct, an IndustryEdge project funded by Australian Forest and Wood Innovations (AFWI), the $100 million‑plus Commonwealth‑supported research institute co‑matched by industry and partners.